December Update

We've got our Christmas tree up, some presents wrapped, and our stockings hung. But right now it doesn't feel a whole lot like the Christmas month. It feels like law school month!

It's finals week for Ben, and he is getting more and more stressed as his first exam approaches. I have full confidence that he is going to do great, and that he has nothing to be nervous about, but of course he's a little worried since this is his first experience with law school tests. Then after finals, he will need to start applying for internships, so that's something he's planning on working on once finals are over. I am so proud of him and how hard he works at school.

As for me, I have been crazy busy with work. We just moved into a new office, and I am taking on a lot of new responsibilities. It's nice to be challenged and to be able to learn new things, but there are some days when I feel like I have so much going on I don't know where to start first. Mostly things are good, and it's nice to have good co-workers.

We have a lot of family activities going on this month, including choir concerts, family parties, the annual "bake-off, and of course the Trail of Lights! Life is so good, but it is so busy! Wish I had time to post pictures, but I'll have to later. Hope everyone is having a great month and getting into the Christmas spirit.

Halloween Weekend in Dallas

For those of you who might be wondering why Ben and I weren't more festive this year with our Halloween holiday, it was mostly because we decided to go to Dallas last weekend! Even if we weren't trick-or-treating or bobbing for apples, we still had a fun time hanging out with Ben's parents. Ben's dad took us to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, where we took a picture next to Jumbo, the wooly mammoth sculpture.

A cool porch swing we found outside the museum.

The underwater predator that I would never EVER want to meet.

The animatronic T-REX. Rawr.
After the museum, Ben and I went to see "Despicable Me" at the theater with Cynthia. Such a cute movie. Dinner was delicious and afterwards we got frozen yogurt! We had such a wonderful time and it was nice to get away for a while and spend time with Ben's family.

Halloween

Everyone is posting Halloween pics, so I thought I'd join the fun! This year's edition:

I really wanted to do matching costumes, but we never had time to go out and get them. Very low-key Halloween for us this year. I made the Minnie Mouse ears and already had the dress, and all Ben had to do was put a pot on his head to be Johnny Appleseed. However, if you want to see some successful costumes from the past:

Peter Pan and Tiger Lily (our first Halloween together!)

And Zorro and Elena. Cue Spanish music. Second Halloween together. Oerall, the ward party this year was fun and we had a good time, even if a lot of people's costumes were way more creative and exciting. We're hoping we can still carve a pumpkin this weekend if they're not all gone.

Ruth Bowden's 100th Birthday Party

Not many people can say that they know someone who is 100 years old. But we do! Ben and I went to Kerrville this past weekend for his great-grandmother Ruth Bowden's 100th Birthday party! Unfortunately I am not the best at taking pictures, but plenty of other people were, so I didn't feel too much pressure. I'm sure it will be a little while before we get the photo of us with Ruth that the professional photographer took, but here's one from a year a half ago!Heidi and Amber posing for the camera. Those two are so cute!

Little Kyle! I like to think that Ben and I were his favorites at the party. Ben got called "The Baby Whisperer" a few times.

Hanging out in Kerrville with the wild turkeys in the background.

Ben's cousin Jared who looks like he could be his brother, Ben, Aunt Janet, and Ben's cousin Grace. Thanks to everyone! We had such a good time and were so happy to see everyone!

Labor Day Fun with the Fam

Labor Day was a blast! We went with my fam to this awesome park just south of Buda where we rode our bikes, ate awesome food, and swam! There are no swimming pics because my mom didn't want to take any.

My dad is the master of the grill.

Alli and Ben having a great time. Hope everyone else had as much fun on their day off as we did!

The Start of Law School

Yes, I know. It has been exactly one month since my last post. Part of that is because I haven't felt that we've had anything "big" to post about, and the other part is that things have started getting busier with Ben in law school. Today marks the end of the second week that Ben has been at University of Texas Law School. He is enjoying it so much and I love hearing about all the cases they discuss in class and how that affects our laws today. It's also nice to have a husband who is happy and busy and really loving what he's doing. I was worried that when he started law school he wouldn't find it as fascinating as he thought and that he would be disappointed, so I am very glad that has not happened. As for me, I have been working 8 to 5 every day and trying to stay busy having lunches with friends and whatnot. When Ben was still at his full time job, he would come home every day and have lunch with me, and I really miss being able to see him during that time. So, even though I have Ricey for company, occasionally I go out to lunch with a friend, or, like yesterday, have lunch with my mom. It's been a pretty smooth adjustment so far, and usually Ben comes home around 5 every day, so he's not gone much longer than he was when he was working. Any way, no pics to post this time, just some thoughts for the day. I hope everyone is having an awesome Labor Day weekend!

Trip to Oklahoma City, OK

This past weekend we went to Oklahoma City, OK to meet up with my sister Natalie and her husband Trevor:
They were doing their yearly road trip from Caifornia back to Indiana, so we thought we'd have a little family reunion while they stopped in Oklahoma. The trip consisted of some pretty big milestones for the Garcia family. The first one of which, was my little sister Alli getting her ears pierced!

Everyone says we look like twins. Now that her ears are pierced, we're even more similar!

Another big milestone: my sister Adrienne made friends with a gorilla. This gorilla would offer her some celery every once and a while, but Adrienne always refused it. I don't get that girl. Who wouldn't want free food from a gorilla?

And another huge milestone: having our family all together at the Oklahoma City Zoo and loving it! It was a great trip, and Ben and I had such a blast with everyone. We are also very happy for my sister Natalie who is due in October. I will post more pics of the OK trip on facebook, if anyone wants to see more. We're now back in Austin and counting down the days until law school starts!

Fort Worth Water Gardens

July 4th weekend, Ben and I went to Dallas to visit his family. One of the coolest things we got to do while we were there was go to the Fort Worth Water Gardens, about 45 mins outside Dallas. The gardens were absolutely beautiful. I have never seen anything like it. We went with Ben's mom, Cynthia and his sister Andrea.
Andrea was home for a visit, and it was so fun to see her. She is so much fun to be around and so sweet. As evidenced by this picture, of course.
This is the "Active Pool", which was by far the coolest water sculpture there. I kept thinking I was going to fall in, especially when we walked through it, but luckily I was safe.





As always, it was great to see Ben's family and spend time with them. Unfortunately, I didn't take any more photos of the three day weekend, but it was a blast!

Capitol Trip

I know it's been a while since I've updated, so I am just going to post some pictures and summarize the latest happenings with us. For those of you not from Austin who may not recognize the above picture, Ben and I went to visit the Capitol building the weekend of June 25th. I have been to the Capitol many times since I was born and raised here, but this was Ben's first time to go. It's not a particularly exciting thing to do, but it's cool to see the different rooms and to walk around with all the Austin tourists. It's really funny that because there are so many people always roaming around the Capitol, the animals are not afraid of people at all. Take this squirrel for example:

This little guy was convinced we were going to give him some food. He got so close we almost touched him!

Anyway, the Capitol is always fun to see, and I'm glad Ben got to experience it.

Ricey Gets a Bath

This was her reaction when she found out she was going to get a bath: No, I am not kidding. She was against the idea from the start, but fortunately she had no choice in the matter. She smelled bad and the kitty litter stains on her paws spoke volumes. I, for one, never knew you were supposed to bathe cats ever. Since the only cats I ever had growing up were outdoor cats, we were lucky to see them twice a week, and my dad would have never thought about bathing them. But I am married to a man who believes firmly in bathing kitties, so here's what happened:

The above pictures illustrate her, "why me?" attitude during bathtime.

She was just too funny looking afterwards to not take a million pictures of, but I settled on the best two to post. I never knew that wet kitties looked like drowned rats. She might have looked funny, but she sure smelled better, and her fur fluffed up quite nicely once she had licked herself for an hour. I read a lot of blogs where moms post pictures of their baby's faces during their first bath. Maybe that is what inspired this blog post. Ben's dad took most of the pictures, so I have to give credit to him. We really enjoyed having him over for the weekend and I even baked him a cake to celebrate his birthday coming up on June 28th:

Happy Birthday!

Hamilton Pool

This weekend Ben, his dad, and I went to Hamilton pool to go swimming. Hamilton pool is this gorgeous cave full of water where people can go and swim during the summer. It's about an hour outside of Austin, and totally worth the drive. Unfortunately, when we got there they said the bacteria level was too high, so no one could swim. This was a major bummer, especially since it was so hot outside. Anyway, here are some great pics we took. Ben and I are determined to go back and swim when it's open.

Ben and his dad enjoying the plants and walking toward our picnic spot.

Look how clear that water is! I couldn't believe there was bacteria in there!

It was truly breathtakingly gorgeous. I cannot wait to go back so we can actually jump in!